interest rates

By Marc Chandler The ECB took an unprecedented step today. Part of its mantra has been that it does not pre-commit. Today it did. It indicated interest rates will be the same or lower for an extended period of time. Draghi, when pressed,…

Floating emerging markets currencies have been under tremendous pressure over the past month, as active investors move out. Slowing growth, political instability, and weaker demand for natural resources have all contributed to the sharp…

Paul Krugman penned a New York Times Op-Ed, "Et Tu, Bernanke?", referencing the famous Shakespeare quote "Et tu, Brute" which is generally used to signal betrayal from someone unexpected. Krugman meant to say that the Fed has betrayed the…

There are perhaps more myths about QE than almost any other monetary policy instrument. Here are five of the most pernicious QE myths.

The treasury curve has steepened materially over the past few weeks, driven by Bernanke's seemingly hawkish statements. One group of companies that will benefit from this adjustment is the banking sector.

The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee met today. As expected, the Fed Funds rate stayed at zero percent. Most Fed watchers, however, wanted more clarity on the Fed's quantitative easing timetable, which the Fed laid out clearly. But…

Mortgage backed securities (MBS) have sold off sharply over the past month as fixed income markets face the new reality of rising rates. But unlike most other fixed income securities, MBS duration tends to increase with yield.

Once again, savers are punished - they either have to take risk (such as rate or credit risk) or live with 5bp (or less). Money markets simply have not benefited from higher interest rates.

In the links today, the biggest threads outside of the NSA scandal were on Greece and Europe. I believe the economy there is bottoming and I want to discuss some of the news flow. There was also a rate decision by the Japanese central bank…

Daily comments on finance, economic and market news for 6 Jun 2013